Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Garden's Bounty including Pom Pom Flowers

My veggie and flower garden has been growing like mad. It is yielding squash after squash and there is not a prayer we can eat them all. I've started making some "crock pickles" in a 6 gallon crock that came from my mother-in-law. First time on this and they smell awesome. It is a bit of a leap of faith though. My recipe came from "Putting Food By" but is similar to this one. There is a local pickle company called Real Pickles in Greenfield which makes awesome pickles, carrots, beets and sauerkraut in a similar way. You can check out their website here.

My upcoming weekend is a "Celebration of Color and Flowers." Cleaning lots of stuff up for the next batch of guests and I am still painting furniture and walls. I can't believe how many hours I have spent painting this summer...... It will never be done. I keep finding more walls and furniture that needs new paint.

Here are some lovely "pom pom flowers" from my garden. They are almost all varieties of amaranth but I didn't keep the labels and can't figure out what I have grown. I'm in it for the beauty, texture and the color anyway and these are not disappointing, to say the least. They look smashing in big vases.....

Chartruese Amaranth - How wild. I can never get enough chartruese!


A collection of other amaranths along with a "pom pom cosmos" (my name - they call it "bon bon"). Hey, I'm a knitter and you gotta go with what you love!


A detail shot of a bi-color amaranth.


Zinnias are coming along and I should have some soon. Looking forward to vases full of brightly colored zinnias for sure.

4 comments:

Virginia G said...

So that's what those flowers are called.

I saw some the other day at the NY Botanical Gardens (i.e. my backyard) and was completely flummoxed by them.

I shall have to tell my daughter.

Martha said...

I love your arrangements of these unusual "pom pom" flowers.

India said...

Hey, loved the mention of Real Pickles! That's my niece and her partner Dan. My personal favorites are the red cabbage and the garlic kraut. The red cabbage in particular makes an amazing color statement on a plate!

Missouri Gal said...

Love the flowers! Wish my garden was doing better.

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